Tag: February 1918

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for February 1918: Found in Chicago Supporting Packers at Alschuler Arbitration Hearings

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Drive Out Bloodsuckers, OR Dly Jr, Feb 27, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 15, 1918
Mother Jones News for February 1918: Found at Hearings in Chicago

Towards the end of February, we found Mother in attendance at the Alschuler Hearings in Chicago. Federal Judge Samuel B. Alschuler was appointed by President Wilson to arbitrate differences between Packinghouse Workers, now in the midst of a massive organizing campaign, and the Stockyard Employers. The Alschuler Hearings were held in Chicago from February 11th until March 7th and a ruling is expect soon.

From the Oregon Daily Journal of February 27, 1918:

Mother Jones Fire Eater, Lg Crpd, St L Str, Aug 23, 1917

Chicago, Feb 27.-(I. N. S.)…..

Like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. “Mother” Jones of labor strike fame, came into the midst of representatives of the packers Tuesday during a five-minute recess in the hearing.

“Why am I here-why?” she exclaimed in a high pitched voice that penetrated the courtroom.

I’m here to tell you bloodsuckers where you get off at. I’m here to help drive out you crooks. I’ll not let up-I’ll not let up.

She directed her attack against John E. O’Hern, general superintendent of Armour & Co. plants, and others. Louis F. Swift, standing back some distance, heard her fiery statements.

A fist fight was threatened when Frank P. Walsh, counsel for the workers, read a series of letters indicating the packers sought to spike corrective legislation in various states.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January 1918: Found in Indianapolis at Convention of United Mine Workers of America

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Praying Swearing, UMWC, Jan 17, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 26, 1918
Mother Jones News for January 1918: Gives Speech at Miners’ Convention

Mother Jones Fire Eater, Lg Crpd, St L Str, Aug 23, 1917

On January 17th of this year, Mother Jones was found speaking in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the Convention of the United Mine Workers of America. She voice her support for President Wilson and for the war effort, declaring:

We must lick the Kaiser.

She also spoke regarding the ongoing attempt to organize West Virginia:

There is a system of industrial feudalism in the State of West Virginia but before another year ends the backbone of that damnable system will be broken and men will rise beneath those stars and stripes as they should rise, free, for the first time. We propose to put the infamous gunmen there out of business. We will make them find other occupations. You are robbed and plundered to pay these gunmen that are hired to keep you in industrial slavery. If it takes every man of the 500,000 miners in this country to march into West Virginia we propose to drive out that feudal system that survives there. It is an outrage and an insult to that flag. They may as well prepare for business, for we are going to do it. The president of the Winding Gulf gang said in Washington, “Don’t you know that Mother Jones swears?” I was asked, “Do you swear, Mother Jones?” I said, “You don’t think I’m hypocrite enough to pray when I’m talking to those thieves!”

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: IWW Leader Big Bill Haywood Released from Cook County Jail on Bail of $15,000

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Haywood Quote, re Cook Co Jail and Martyrs, Ab p 37, re Sept 1917

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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday February 21, 1918
Big Bill Haywood Now Out on Bail from Cook County Jail

From North Carolina’s Cleveland Star of February 19, 1918:

William D. Haywood, international secretary and treasurer of the I. W. W., who with 165 other members of that organization, was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Chicago on a charge of conspiracy and sedition, has been released in bond of $15,000.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of February 13, 1918:

HAYWOOD FREED ON $15,000 BOND
OVER U. S. PLEA
—–
Government Fears He Will Become Active
as an I. W. W. Agent.
—–

BBH, NYTb p22, Dec 30, 1917

William D. Haywood, international secretary of the I. W. W., and recognized as its guiding spirit, was released yesterday under $15,000 bond. He had been in jail since Sept. 28. Judge Landis permitted the reduction of the bond from $25,000.

The bond was signed by George W. Kohler, 9236 Commercial avenue; Jacob Brunning and his wife, Catherine, 4243 Lowell avenue, and William Bross Lloyd, capitalist and Socialist.

“I’ll take a chance,” was Judge Landis’ comment in granting Haywood’s release, after District Attorney Clyne and Frank K. Nebeker, special assistant attorney general, had opposed the action, declaring that Haywood, once out of jail, would at once renew his anti-government activities.

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Free on $25,000 Bond; Attends Talk by Robert Bruere Defending IWW

Janet RayeElizabeth Gurley Flynn
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It’s great to fight for freedom
With a Rebel Girl.
-Joe Hill

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 20, 1918
New York, New York – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Free on $25,000 Bond

In searching for the recent doings of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, we found her in the pages of the Chicago Tribune where we learned that she has posted $25,000 bond in the court of Federal Judge Landis. We next found her in New York City, where, according to the Buffalo New Age, she attended a lecture by Robert Bruere, one of the few defenders of the Industrial Workers of the World.

From The Chicago Daily Tribune of February 4, 1918:

I.W.W. LAWYERS READY TO
BEGIN DEFENSE TODAY
—–
Will Ask Landis to Quash Indictments
and Return Seized Papers.
—–

WWIR, Caroline Lowe IWW Lawyer, Chg Tb p13, Feb 4, 1918

Attorneys for the 116 alleged members of the I. W. W., already under arrest, will open their first great offensive today. They have been laying their plans for weeks.

They are to appear before Federal Judge Landis and ask demurers, make mentions to quash the indictments, and demand the return of all documents in possession of the government by attacking the writs under which the seizures of evidence were made.

Array of Legal Talent.

Charles E. Whiteside of New York, who represents a little coterie of indicted ones, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, alleged author of a book on “Sabotage”; Joe Ettor of Lawrence strike fame, and Arturo Giovanetti, will ask a severance for his clients. He arrived last night. These three on almost an instant’s notice produced cash bond of $25,000 each.

Prominent in the defense of the other I. W. W. members will be Miss Caroline Lowe of Seattle, a Socialist author. She is credited with having one of the keenest minds among the legal forces of the organization. George [F.] Vanderveer, also of Seattle, will lead in the fight…

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs: “A worldwide, humanity embracing revolution is on the calendar.”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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EVD Quote, cry for freedom, Duluth Truth, Feb 15, 1918
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 17, 1918
Eugene V. Debs on the Coming Social Revolution

From the Duluth Truth of February 15, 1918:

Towards the Rising Sun

by Eugene V. Debs

EVD by LS Chumley, ISR Jan 1916

The earth is in travail; the race is suffering from the pangs of parturition. A worldwide, humanity embracing revolution is on the calendar—in red letters—of the 20th Century. The impending social crisis is the most portentous that ever issued from the womb of time.

Historical epochs mark the growth of man, the progress of events, the rise and sweep of civilization.

Prophets and philosophers, catching the spirit of coming events, force and proclaim them; and as they approach, poets and pamphleteers, orators and agitators, dramatists and musicians, animated by the new spirit, acclaim the glad tidings of the sunrise of the morrow.

These are the heralds of the dawn; the torchbearers of progress, the evangels of advancing civilization.

Living, they are hated and reviled, crucified and damned.

Dead, they live again and forever.

Freedom is the universal shibboleth of the present age.

And as the cry for freedom surges from the soul and leaps from the lips of Labor, a thousand and million proletarians, in all the zones that girdle the globe, lift their bowed bodies from the dust, and join in the swelling anthem of the Social Revolution.

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Hellraisers Journal: Statement of Ohio Socialist, Ruthenberg and Wagenknecht, Before Leaving for the Canton Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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I am not conscious of having committed any crime.
The thing that I am conscious of is having endeavored
to inspire higher ideals and nobler lives.
If to do that is a crime in the eyes of the government,
I am proud to have committed that crime.
-C. E. Ruthenberg

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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday February 16, 1918
Canton, Ohio – Prison Doors Close Behind Ohio Socialists

The New York Evening Call of January 17th reported that the United States Supreme Court had affirmed the prison sentences of C. E. Ruthenberg, Secretary of Local Cleveland, Alfred Wagenknecht, State Secretary and Charles Baker, State Organizer, all of the Socialist Party of America. All three stand sentenced to serve a year in Canton prison by Federal Judge Westenhaver. The statements of Ruthenberg and Wagenknecht, made before they were taken to Canton, were published this month in the International Socialist Review:

NEWS AND VIEWS

From Ohio-As the prison doors at Canton, Ohio, open to receive our comrades, Ruthenberg and Wagenknecht, for one year, they send greetings and these words to the REVIEW and its readers:

WWIR, SPA, Ruthenberg, ISR Feb 1918

THE Supreme Court has decided we must spend a year in jail.

The “crime” of which we are convicted is truth-telling.

We believe in certain principles. We fought for those principles. We go to jail.

Ostensibly we are convicted of inducing a certain Alphonse Schue not to register. The charge is merely the excuse. Neither of us knew Schue. Neither of us heard of him until his name appeared in the indictment against us.

The ruling class is always able to find a Judas. Schue was induced to say he heard our speeches and had been influenced thereby not to register, by the promise of his freedom.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs on attacks against Socialist Party: “anti-patriotic, seditious, traitorous…”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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I have no country to fight for;
my country is the earth,
and I am a citizen of the world.
-Eugene V. Debs

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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday February 12, 1918
Eugene Debs Defends the Socialist Party of America

From the Chicago Eye-Opener of February of 9, 1918:

The Campaign This Year.

by Eugene V. Debs

EVD by LS Chumley, ISR Jan 1916

The Socialist Party is emerging from another struggle crowned with victory.

When the party declared its attitude toward war at the St. Louis convention [April 7-14, 1917] it was fiercely attacked from within as well as without as an anti-patriotic, seditious, traitorous organization. The chairman of the committee that framed the war resolution was indicted and sentenced to penitentiary for a term of five years. The National Secretary [Adolph Germer] was arrested upon one charge, indicted and tried upon another, and is still under bail pending further trial.

Hundreds of the party’s speakers and organizers were arrested and jailed, and hundreds of others forcibly prevented from speaking. Halls for meeting purposes were denied our lecturers, secret service agents dogged the heels of our comrades, while rowdies and strong-arm men, including not a few in the uniform of United States soldiers and sailors, were incited to raid our local headquarters, sack our offices, and break up our meetings. The party’s papers were either suppressed outright or sorely hampered by the authorities.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Labor in Prison; America, 1917” by Charles Ashleigh, Cook County Jail, Dec 25th

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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The Word is said; the Time is nigh.-
Stand fast, O rebel clan!-
For, what are gallows or jails to us
Upbuilders of the Plan?
You cannot stay the Debtor’s Day,-
The Heritage of Man!
-Charles Ashleigh

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Hellraisers Journal, Monday February 4, 1918
From the Cook County Jail: “Labor in Prison” by Charles Ashleigh

From the International Socialist Review of February 1918:

WWIR, Labor in Prison-1, Charles Ashleigh, ISR Feb 1918WWIR, Labor in Prison-2, Charles Ashleigh, ISR Feb 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs Defends I. W. W., Declares Charges “Absurd and Malicious”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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EVD Quote, Revolutionary Solidarity, ISR Feb 1918

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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 3, 1918
Eugene V. Debs Defends the Industrial Workers of the World

From the International Socialist Review of February 1918:

THE I. W. W. BOGEY

By EUGENE V. DEBS

WWIR, Chg IWW, EVD re Stanley J. Clark, ISR Feb 1918

The morning paper I have just read contains an extended press dispatch from Washington, under screaming headlines, making the startling disclosure that a worldwide conspiracy to overthrow the existing social order has been unearthed by the secret service agents of the government The basis of the conspiracy is reported to have been the discovery of some guns and ammunition in the hold of a Russian freighter just arrived at a Pacific port in charge of a Bolsheviki crew, from which it has been deduced that the guns must have been sent by the Russian revolutionists to the I. W. W. of the United States in pursuance of a conspiracy of the Russian reds, the Sinn Fein leaders of Ireland, and the American I. W. W.s to overthrow all the governments of the civilized world.

This is really too much!

We are not told how the Sinn Feiners happen to get in on this universal conspiracy, but as their name, like that of the Bolsheviki and the I. W. W., has great potency as a bogey to frighten the feeble-minded, the inventors of this wonderful cock-and-bull story may well be allowed this additional license to their perfervid imagination.

Everything that happens nowadays that the ruling classes do not like and everything that does not happen that they do like is laid at the door of the I. W. W. Its name is anathema wherever capitalism wields the lash and drains the veins of its exploited victims.

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Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Vagrancy Law Targets Striking Coal Miners, No Penalty for Lock-Outs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday February 2, 1918
State of West Virginia – Targets Strikers with Vagrancy Law

From the Duluth Labor World of January 26, 1918:

STRIKERS ARE TERMED LOAFERS
—–
West Virginia Law Makes Idle Men Subject
to Arrest for Vagrancy.
—–

WV Miners Strike, Gunthugs, Labor World, Sept 1, 1917

WHEELING, W. Va., Jan 24-Men who go on strike in West Virginia are liable to arrest for vagrancy under the new vagrancy law rushed through the last special session of the legislature. The law provides, under penalty of arrest and sentence for vagrancy, that able-bodied men, between the ages of 16 and 60, must be employed in some lawful, useful and recognized business or occupation whereby they may earn a sufficient income to support themselves and those legally dependent upon them.

A number of strikers already have been arrested under new law. The restlessness of organized labor in West Virginia is conceded to be the impelling force that necessitated an extraordinary session of the legislature to pass this law.

[Says a West Virginia labor official:]

Under the guise of attacking the loafer, the state legislature created the most effective instrument for the breaking of strikes.

The sinister aspect of the law is to be seen in the fact that no penalty is provided for the man who withholds work from others eager for the opportunity to earn. Lockouts are legal, while strikes are criminal.

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